People across organizations tend to fundamentally treat leadership as synonymous with management. However, these two very important organizational skills differ on three key parameters, which are, one, process vs. vision, two, organizing vs. aligning, and three, position vs. quality.

Effective leadership is centered around vision, whereas managers set out to achieve organizational goals through implementing processes. On the second parameter, organizing vs. aligning, managers pursue goals through coordinated actions and tactical processes, or tasks and activities that unfold over stages to reach a certain outcome whereas leaders are less focused on how to organize people to get work done and more on finding ways to align and influence them.

The final dimension, position vs. quality, the title “manager” often denotes a specific role within an organization’s hierarchy, while referring to someone as a “leader” has a more fluid meaning.